Sprocket chain lubrication



Aug- 1 1939 B. wr-:LsER Er A1.' v 2,16,2`77 v sPRocKET CHAIN LUBRICATION Filed June 2l, 1937 ,Brinton 72513611 und Maurice; 6'. Jawat,

i 2 SIW);

.Patented Aug. 1, 1939 n l 2,168,277

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,168,277 SPBOCKET LUBRICATION Brlrmm Welser una Maurice' G. Jewett, Milwaukee, Wis., assignors to Chain Belt Company, Milwaukee, Wis., a corporation o! Wisconsin Application June 21, 1937, Serial No. 149,533 `zyCll'ims. (Cl. 74-257) The present invention relates to sprocket The dlametrically opposed oil holes just rechain lubrication, and has for one of its objects ferred to, in addition to being located midway bars, thus providing a rigid substantially U the application and feeding o1' the oil to the pin- 10 ative to the closed end of another link, the pintle operating at high speeds, as the sharp edges of 16 two links together. `In. many instances, rollers material out of the pintles, whichpieces .find

are mounted 011 the bushings to protect them their wa-ybetween the pintles and their bushings from wea'r which would result from drect contact and cause gouging and unduly rapid wear be- 20 thereof with the sprocket teeth. tween these parts. It is therefore one ofthe When mounted on sprockets to transmit power principal objects of the invention to locate these between spaced Shel' the force imparted by the holes in the bushing in such manner as to be most tooth of the drive sprocket to the roller with advantageous, not only for lubricating the pintletransmitted to its bushing, bushing bearing. but also for permitting the `25 3() Side 0f the-Chain between the driving and driven vention consistsin the novel details of construc- 80 'I'he pintles are held'against rotation in their parts more fully hereinafter disclosed and par-l side bar apertv es, land theA bushings are a loose tlcularly pointed out ln the appended claims. running nt thereon, providing for articulation of Referring to the accompanying drawing formthe links'. 'I'he clearances between the overlaping a part 01' this specication in which like ref- 35 Ding portions ofthe side bars of successive links erence characters designate like parts in all the are ordinarily only a. few hundredths of an-inch, views; e and those between.. the ends of the rolls andthe Figure 1 is a diagrammatic elevational view of adjacent side bers are not much greater, as o a portion of a typical sprocket and chain instal- 40 result 0f Which the ntl'oductiOn 0f 011 01' Similar lation, illustrating the method of lubrication re- 40 lubricant to the complementary bearing surfaces ferred to above; of the pintles and bushings presents some dim- Fig. 2 is an enlarged sectional plan view of a onlty. g Y portion of a sprocket chain, showing the oil feed- One emmnly employed method of attempting holes located in the bushings in accordance ing lubrication of the pintles and bushings has with the present invention; 45 been t0 provide the bushings with diemetrically Fig. 3 is a still 'further enlarged vertical secopposed oil holes midway between theends, and tional view, taken approximately on the plane ina. complementary hole in the roller'wallwhich VVdicated' by the line 3 3 of Fis. 2, looking in the may be alined through rotation ofthe roller with direction of the arrows; and

- to one or the other of seid bushing holes, and then rig..4 is a. view sn'nuer to Fig. 3, but onL the same 5o to pour oil on the upper face of the lower run o1'. scale as Fig. 2, illustrating the prior art constructhe chain in the hope that a sumcient quantity tion in whichV the diametrically opposed oil holeswill pass through such holes .if and when-they are located in a plane substantially at right aline toadequately lubricate thc-pintle and bushangles to the line of chain pull. l

u in; surfaces. Referring more particularly to Figure 1, t iny' 105 degrees from the plane 21,

, working out of the apertures `dicates a drive sprocket which may be considered rotating in -the Adirection indicated by the arrow, andV having trained about it a sprocket chain 1, while 8 indicates an oil can introduced between the upper and. lower runs of the chain 1 with-its spout 9 directed toward the upper surface of the lower run of the chain for applying oil to the parts.

As best shown in Figure 2, the chain 1 is made up of a plurality of links I0, each composed of the spaced side bars II and I2, which at one end .are apertured as at I3 and Il respectively for the reception of the ends of the sleeve or bushing I5, which as above explained are press-tted into the apertures I3 and I4, thereby providing a substantially rigid U-shaped link. The other ends of the side bars II and I2 are apertured as at 4I5 and I1 respectively for the reception of the chain pintle I8 whichA is headed at one end as at I9, and at the other end is provided with 4a flat 28 engaging a corresponding flat 2l in the aperture I1 to prevent rotation of the pintle in the said bars. A lock pin or cotter 22 is passed through the projecting end of the pintle I8 to prevent its I5 and I1, and a roller 23 provided with\one or more oil holes 24 is journalled upon the exterior surface of the bushing I5 between the side bars II and I2.

'I'he bushing I5 is provided with a plurality of countersunk oil holes 25 extending from its outer to its inner peripheries, and these holes are preferably so located, longitudinally of the bushing,

that their circumference is substantially tangent to the inner surfaces of the side bars II and I2, as will be clear from Figure 2, where they may best receive vthe oil deposited from can 8, and transmit it to the pintle joint.

The oil holes 25 instead of being dianietricaily opposed, as indicated at 25' in the prior art con struction of Fig. 4, are anguiarly disposed relative to the plane 25 (Fig. 3) perpendicular to the line of straight chain pull, being offset in a direction away from the line of contact between the bushing and pintle when the chain is in straight line tension. That is to say, referring to Fig. 3, the clearance between the pintle `I8 and the bore of the bushing I5 is such that a free or loose fit exists between the two, say 1/64" or more, and with the chain in tension a crescent shaped space 30 will result.v The oil holes 25 are positioned approximately 15 degrees from` the plane 26, or

a plane determined by the line of straight chain pull and the line of contact of the bushing and pintle with the offset away from the the bushing shaped chain in tension, and are above described line of contact of and pintle to admit oil into the crescent space 30.

The plane 26 is coincident with the neutralv axis of the bushing I5. That is to say, when the chain is in tensionthere is a tendency for the pintle I8 to bend, which tendency is in turn transmitted to the bushing; and the neutral axis of the latter, with respect to thisbending tendency, is coincidental with the plane25. On this line the bers in the bushing are in neither tension or compression, whereas at degrees therefrom in one direction they are in maximum compression, and at 90 degrees therefrom in the other direction they are in maximum tension. Positioning the oil holes 25 with their axes ap'- proximately 15 degrees o this neutral axis does not materially weaken the bushing against these bending strains, but it does appreciably facilitate while leaving their as will be readily understood.

only must the oil be fed thereto through the holes 24 of the roller 23, which seldom aline with the bushing holes 25' unless manually moved to such position, but during the articulation of the chain parts as they enter upon and leave the sprocket, the sharp edges of the said holes 25 scrape the surface of the pintle, gouging out small pieces of metal which work their way throu'gh the pintle bearing, accelerating wear thereof.

On the other hand, the angular displacement of the holes 25 backward from the plane 25 disposes their discharge ports adjacent the crescent shaped space 38 between surfaces, so thatthe sharp hardened' edges of said ports do not` contact with the bearing surface of the pintle, thus practically eliminating scraping or gouging of the pintle and wear of the journal resulting from the abrasiveaction of the metal so displaced.

The said angular displacement of the holes 25, by-causing them has been found in practice to materially aid in getting the lubricant to the bearing surfaces, i outer ends or inlet ports in good position to receive the lubricant from the spout 9 of can facilitated by the longitudinal positioning of the holes 25 with their circumferences substantially tangent to the inner surfaces of the chain side bars, since as the rollers 23 move axially on the bushings I5 within the limits of their clearances, they expose a maximum of the inlet ports for the reception of the oil.

The holes 25 are not sufficiently inclined tothe vertical when receiving the lubricant to appreciably impair the flow thereof by gravity to the space 30, and when they do become so inclined upon passing around the sprocket, centrifugal force occasioned by such passage cornesl into play and continues the feed of lubricant from the holes 25 to space 30 and to the bearing surfaces,

It 1s to be further noted the four ou holes in the bushing are so arranged that either side of the chain may be operated against the sprockets with equal facility of lubrication because one -set of holes will always extend upwardly on the lower run of the chain.

s'The expression line of straight chain pull, used herein is intended to mean the direction of pull or application of force from one link to another in the substantially straight run of the ch'ain between the sprockets.

While one form of the invention has been illustrated and described it is obvious that those skilled in the art may vary the details'of construction as well as the precise arrangement of parts without departing from the spirit of the invention and therefore it is not wished to be limited to the above disclosure except as may be the pintle and bushing 8. Such reception is likewise sleeve to extend apertures being substantially tangent to the inner dat faces across the clearances between the roller ends and .51de bars.

positioned longitudinally of the across the clearances between the roller ends and side bars.

of said side bars and extendingl 3. s link for. heavy duty high speedipower transmittingsprocket chains comprising spaced side bars rigidly connected to a hollow sleeve arranged to receive a chain pintle, said sleeve having cylindrical inner and outer peripheries and radial'lubrication apertures extending through its wall from said outer to said inner periphery in juxtaposition to the inward wall of each side sleeve against deection forcesis maintained. BRINTON WELSER.

G. JEWE'I'I'. 

